


helping hands

by isloremipsumafterall



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M, spoilers ish for the Before the Awakening book if you haven't read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 05:24:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5485223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isloremipsumafterall/pseuds/isloremipsumafterall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe's squadron catches on that Finn and Poe like each other and decide to try to help Finn out; it's not really helpful at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	helping hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [plinys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/plinys/gifts).



> For Jess, who's brilliant at writing and was nice enough to do a fic swap with me. Sorry mine became a mess.

The thing is, Finn still isn’t sure where he sits with the Rebellion; he’s certainly decided to join them and they appreciate his insight into the First Order but aside from Poe no one really talks to him that much.

 

Which is why when he’s suddenly surrounded by pilots who aren’t Poe while Poe isn’t there to join him for a meal he’s a little confused.

 

“Uh, hi.” He settled for, nodding at the pilots sitting across from him.

 

They kept starting at him and it’s a little unsettling, he shifted in his seat and wondered if he should offer to leave but opted to stay.

 

“I saw your flying the other day,” He said with more enthusiasm and he’s not faking it, he’s always excited to see Poe lead the squadron and all the things the X-Wings can do, “Liked the nose dive fake out.”

 

One of the ones across from him, the humanoid male with the strange coloured eyes and Finn can’t quite place the species, snorted with amusement.

 

“See I told you he was watching.” The man said to the woman next to him and then stuck out his hand, “I’m Iolo.”

 

Finn shook his hand numbly, feeling a little embarrassed that Poe’s squad had noticed him watching, he wondered if it was just that time or they’d seen him come out every day to watch Poe fly circles around the base when doing training exercises.

 

“And this is Kare.” Iolo said, introducing the woman next to him with a jerk of this thumb towards her after she elbowed him in the side. “That’s Jessika,” The woman sitting next to Finn nodded when she glanced his way, “Teffer,” The man on Iolo’s other side grinned at Finn, “and Temmin, but we all call him ‘Snap’.” The man on Finn’s other side slapped him on the shoulder in a greeting.

 

“Nice to meet you.” Finn said, wincing slightly at the pain that laced through his back.

 

Kare noticed it and kicked Snap from under the table, “Way to go, guys still recovering from a back injury. How is that by the way?”

 

“Manageable,” Finn tried his best to shrug nonchalantly.

 

Kare snorted, “Poe said you’d try to bluff your way through the pain.”

 

“He talks about me?” Finn didn’t mean to so excited just then but it slipped out and he cleared his throat, “I mean…”

 

Before he could think of a bad lie all the pilots around him began laughing.

 

“You’re all he’s been talking about the past few weeks.” Jessika said, still snickering slightly.

 

“Thanks for saving his life by the way, saved us the hassle of it,” Iolo cut in and while his words we’re joking there was an undercurrent of actual gratitude and the squad’s smiles softened, making Finn feel warm with the praise and he relaxed a little.

 

“But back to the matter at hand,” Kare rested her elbows on the table, linking her fingers and resting her chin on them as she stared at Finn, “What are your intentions with our leader.”

 

“What?” Finn spluttered, blinking quickly, “I don’t- I’m not – there’s no intentions, I mean I’m not gonna kidnap him and drag him back to the First Order, I’m not a spy.”

 

Again there was a raucous laughter from all of them and Kare waved off his protests, “Kid none of us think you, believe me Poe’s yammered on enough about you that none of us think that.”

 

“Though the kidnapping thing might have some merit,” Iolo hummed, “Not the second part to it of course but hey the first Poe might like.”

 

“We could always drop them off on an isolated planet,” Jessika said, “Somewhere tropical, Poe’d like that.”

 

“Give him an excuse to take off his shirt, the show off he is.” Snap snorted.

 

“What are you talking about?” Finn finally interrupted, more lost than ever.

 

Iolo and Kare exchanged glances and then looked back at him.

 

“Look we know you’ve got a thing for Poe.” Kare stated bluntly.

 

Finn stared at her, mentally tripping on his words but saying nothing.

 

“It’s fine because he likes you too. We’re just tired of hearing about you, no offense, and he’s not gonna make the first move cause he doesn’t want to push you so we’re taking the initiative and here to help you.” Iolo finished for Kare, shrugging like it was no big deal to them.

 

“I have to go.” Finn blurted out, standing up and scurrying back, ignoring the calls of his name and bolting out the door.

 

He wandered the halls aimlessly for a few minutes, running over what the squadron had said in his head and didn’t even notice when he’d made his way to the hanger bay where Poe was working on his X-Wing with BB-8.

 

“Finn!” Poe yelled his name when he spotted Finn, hoping out of his pilot’s seat and stepping down the ladder.

 

Poe’s hands were covered in grease from some fix he’d been working on, the jacket he’d been wearing abandoned in the corner and leaving him with just a grey tank top and Finn tried to ignore the way Poe’s muscles flexed as Poe stretched.

 

“You’re just in time, I was thinking of taking a break.” Poe grinned at him and Finn returned it with ease; it was something he was always grateful for, Poe making it so easy for Finn to feel relaxed as himself – or rather the himself he was still figuring out.

 

“Doesn’t taking a break for you usually mean flying out on some wild ride?” Finn joked, knowing that flying was Poe’s favourite thing.

 

“Exactly,” Poe tossed a helmet at him, “So strap in.”

 

It wasn’t often that Finn would go flying with him, once Poe had offered to teach him but Finn had been the best at it, shooting more his forte and just learned the basics in case of an emergency while joking that he sure hoped that Poe would be there to fly him out.

 

Poe had just wrapped an arm around his shoulders and teased Finn that he’d always be there to get ‘the biggest deal in the Rebellion’ out of trouble.

 

Thinking about made Finn smile but then the words from the squadron only ten minutes ago came to mind and he threw the helmet back.

 

“Maybe another time.”

 

Poe narrowed his eyes, “You okay? Back acting up again?”

 

“Yeah, that’s it.” Finn felt bad using it as a cheap excuse but he kept getting stuck on the idea of being in an enclosed space with Poe and that Poe was ‘waiting for him to make the first move’. “I think I’m gonna go drop by the medbay.”

 

“I’ll come with you.” Poe set his helmet down and started walking towards Finn.

 

“No. Nope, I’m good. Can do this myself, you fly.” Finn assured him but if anything it just made Poe frown harder.

 

“Something else going on?” Poe was by his side, dark eyes concerned and resting his hand on Finn’s shoulder. This close all it would take was a few inches of leaning over for them to kiss and the thought raced through Finn’s mind on hyperdrive.

 

Except that doing that seemed clumsy, even with knowing that Poe liked him back; the other man was more experienced than Finn was…an ex Stormtrooper who’d never even considered anything like this before.

 

“Everything’s fine.” Finn forced a smile, hoping it was convincing. “I just gotta get something checked out, that’s all.”

 

“If you need anything-”

 

“I’ll come find you.”

 

Poe nodded slowly, backing off, “I’ll be here.”

 

Finn retreated, waving his goodbye and backing away to the door, breathing a sigh of relief once he was through.

 

“I’m screwed.” He said to himself, groaning.

 

~~

 

“That’s why we’re here to help.” Iolo grinned at him when Finn trekked back to the table the pilots still sat at and glumly reiterated his thoughts.

 

“We’ve got the perfect plan. Don’t worry.” Kare reached over and patted his arm, Finn was so distracted he missed the smirks shot between the pilots; had he have seen it he wouldn’t have felt at all better about his situation.

 

~~

 

The perfect plan involved Snap stealing all Finn’s clothes while he was in the shower, leaving him only his jacket and telling Poe he needed help.

 

That had led to an awkward staring moment until Poe mumbled he’d go find Finn more pants.

 

The next “perfect plan” was Jessika locking them in a closet and General Organa finding them, raising her eyebrow and huffing with an amused laugh, “I don’t think you’ll find the First Order in here boys.”

 

They had shuffled out and Finn had found the squadron, begging them not to help anymore.

 

Except that they insistently did, Iolo and Kare marching him down to Poe’s room and telling him about all the other people Poe had dated over the years and assuring Finn that he could do it.

 

He stood at the doorway until Poe opened it and smiled so wide that Finn forgot what he was going to say.

 

“We’ll just try again later.” Iolo said, rubbing his chin in thought and Finn groaned thinking about what the next plan would be.

 

He decided he needed to clear his thoughts, finding himself down at the shooting range much as he had back as a Stormtrooper, allowing himself to focus only on the target ahead of him and block out everything else.

 

A low whistle sounded nearby his ear about a half an hour into his practice and he turned to see Poe standing there clapping.

 

“Amazing shot Finn.” Poe said, “Guess that’s why we make a good team.”

 

Finn glanced over at the target, taking a deep breath and muttering, “I can do this.”

 

Poe shot him a confused look but Finn just ignored it, squaring his shoulders and marching forward until he was right in Poe’s space and was kissing him.

 

It was different, Finn took notice of that right away; unlike everything that had been in his life previously, the cold sterile environment of the First Order, Poe was warm and pliant, drawing him in instead of pushing him away.

 

“About time,” Poe said when they broke for air and then kissed Finn again, now that the first move had been broken he seemed to have no care for personal space between them, pushing Finn back until he hit the wall and apologizing against Finn’s lips when Finn hissed at the slightest bit of pain from it.

 

“I was tired of your squad stealing my clothes,” Finn rebutted, “They might be evil by the way with all their helpfulness.”

 

Poe laughed, not arguing the point however.

 

“Just needed to be you Finn,” Poe said, grinning cheekily.

 

“Now you tell me.” Finn rolled his eyes, pulling Poe back into a kiss.

 

They only broke apart again at the hollering coming from the doorway, looking over to see Poe’s squad there slapping each other on the shoulder and counting credits.

 

“I’d say we’d need to take this somewhere without an audience.” Poe said, slinging his arm across Finn’s shoulders carefully and pulling Finn with him, winking at the squad as they walked by.

 

“Please never leave me alone with them again.” Finn muttered to Poe.

 

“At least they like you.” Poe offered. “Actually Jessika says she likes you more than me. I think that’s mutiny.”

 

Finn brightened at that, “It’s the jacket, I pull it off better.”

 

Poe snorted, “Sure buddy, that’s it.”

 

Anything else he could of said was forgotten as they reached Poe’s room and he pushed them inside, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

 

“You know that jacket would look better off right now.”

 

“You know I completely agree.”


End file.
